Understaffed courts slow litigation, not vacations, lawyers and judges say

AMMAN — The annual judicial holiday does not slow litigation, judges and lawyers said, blaming a rise in crime and understaffed courts for delays. 

The annual vacation for judges runs from July 1 to August 31, while lawyers take their vacations between July 16 and September 15.

His Majesty King Abdullah’s sixth Royal Discussion Paper, published earlier this month, focused on improving the judiciary and accelerating litigation to uphold the rule of law. 

Some litigants claim that the “judicial vacation” slows down the process of litigation because judges leave their cases until they return to work.

But judges and lawyers disputed this, noting that they stagger their holidays, and insisting that the problem is understaffed courts and the rise of crimes in the Kingdom.  

“When we take our vacation, we hand our cases to other judges who stay in the office for the time we are out. That means the cases are not postponed and they keep going even during the vacation,” said a judge who preferred not to be named. 

“The court where I work has six judges. We coordinate so that three of us take one month off in turns,” she told The Jordan Times 

Judges need to unwind, she added, noting that each judge will consider 20,000 cases in the other 11 months.  

“Just like any other employee, lawyers need vacations as they work for long hours. After going to court they return to their offices and continue working,” Mustafa Khalid, a lawyer, told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

Khalid attributed the slow pace of litigation to procedural laws and the ratio of judges to cases, rather than to the annual vacation. 

Akram Abdulkareem, another lawyer, agreed that the vacation is a right, adding that some lawyers take the holiday to follow up on cases.

He said the inexperience of some newly appointed judges sometimes slows down the judicial process.